Siege of Fort Stanwix

The Siege of Fort Stanwix (2-22 August 1777) was a battle of the Saratoga campaign of the American Revolutionary War. A combined British, Loyalist, Hessian, and Native American force under Barry St. Leger launched a diversionary attack against Fort Stanwix in the Mohawk Valley, but the British siege was forced to retreat due to misinformation and the withdrawal of its native allies.

St. Leger's diversionary force of 750 British regulars and Canadian militia and 800 Native Americans covered an impressive 10 miles a day, and St. Leger arrived at Fort Stanwix, the key to the Mohawk Valley, on 2 August 1777. He was told that the fort was in disrepair and would be easy to take, but he found it staunchly defended by 750 New York Continental Army soldiers. Rather than launch an attack, St. Leger decided to mount a siege. After three days of bombardment, the American garrison refused to surrender, and scouts alerted St. Leger that 800 Americans under Nicholas Herkimer were marching to lift the siege. Herkimer urged caution in moving against the enemy force, but his officers were suspicious due to Herkimer's own brother fighting alongside the loyalists; Herkimer was forced to resume the march. Six miles from Fort Stanwix, the column reached a ravine near Oriskany, where they were ambushed by Joseph Brant's Iroquois warriors. Herkimer was wounded early in the battle, and he had his men prop him up against a tree as he gave orders. His farmers were no match for Brant's warriors, and the rebels eventually came up with a new tactic of working in pairs; one militiaman loaded the rifle as the other fired, and they would switch guns after each shot. When the battle was over, 160 Americans were dead, and Herkimer bled to death after a surgeon ineptly amputated his leg. The Indians lost several of their most important chiefs and warriors, and, when they returned to their camp, they found that the rebels from Fort Stanwix had plundered it. The Indians had neither an easy battle nor the spoils of war that had been promised by the British, and hundreds of them deserted.

Meanwhile, as the siege reached its second week, Benedict Arnold volunteered to lead 1,000 Continentals to rescue the garrison. Arnold came up with a ruse to win the battle without firing a shot, taking advantage of the retard Hon Yost Schuyler. Arnold sent Schuyler ahead of his column to the Indians with the news that the long knives were coming and that a huge force was approaching, and the rest of the Indians fled. Worried about the loss of his Indian allies, St. Leger decamped in the greatest hurry, leaving his tents and most of his artillery in the field. John Burgoyne's diversion had been defeated.